Yemen VP Reaches Out to Dissidents as Protest Turns Deadly
Yemen's future president Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi has pledged to southern separatists and northern rebels that he will address their concerns, as fears mounted over election boycotts and escalating vote-related violence.
Both the separatist Southern Movement and the northern Shiite rebels are boycotting Tuesday's presidential vote, and attacks on polling stations and clashes between troops and anti-election protesters in the south have raised fears that polling day could be marred by violence.
Hadi in a televised speech late on Sunday said "dialogue and only dialogue" can resolve these long-standing conflicts.
"The southern issue and its implications, and what happened, and what is still happening in Saada (the rebel stronghold in the north), must be given priority ... and must be addressed with an open heart and without prejudice," he said.
Interior Minister Abdul Qader Qahtan also tried to reassure voters.
"We have taken preventive measures to deal with groups that want to block people from carrying out their electoral duty," he told reporters, urging a vote "for the security and stability of Yemen."
Escalating poll-related violence on Monday left one soldier dead and another wounded as troops clashed with separatists at a checkpoint in Yemen's southern Daleh province, a military official told Agence France Presse.
Seven armed protesters, chanting "revolution in the south" were wounded in the exchange of fire, a Southern Movement member told AFP.
Troop reinforcements and dozens of armored vehicles arrived in the southern port city of Aden late Sunday, security officials said.
The deployment came as militants in the southeast province of Shabwa seized a polling station, triggering clashes with security forces who fired tear gas and live ammunition to force their retreat, witnesses and activists said.
No serious injuries were reported.
Earlier, troops and separatists exchanged fire in Aden's Mansura neighborhood, a stronghold of the movement, where a mass protest against the poll was expected later on Monday.
A security official said police on Sunday and Monday carried out "arrest raids on armed hardliners" from the Southern Movement trying "by force to prevent citizens from participating in the elections."
"These elements are trying to create a state of fear among citizens by spreading rumors that February 21 will see acts of violence," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Hadi is the only candidate in Tuesday's poll, a condition of the Gulf-brokered transition deal signed by outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh after months of protests and international pressure demanding his ouster.
Hadi will be president for an interim two years after which presidential elections and parliamentary elections will be held.
"It is every Yemeni's duty to vote, because only these elections can prevent wars and allow Yemen to enter a new phase," said Amine Haykal, a 28-year-old civil servant from Sanaa.
On Sunday Hadi, currently vice president, outlined his two-year plan, promising "radical reforms" and stressing the need to reunify the army.
The military has been divided since last March when some units defected to support the uprising against Saleh's 33-year-rule, while others remained loyal to the veteran leader.
Hadi also pledged to fight al-Qaida and its growing influence in the lawless south and eastern provinces where the militants have seized several towns in recent months.
In Zinjibar, provincial capital of Abyan province, two soldiers were killed on Monday in clashes with al-Qaida militants, security officials said.
Troops have been battling the self-proclaimed Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law) in Zinjibar since last May when the extremists took most of the city.
In the north, Shiite rebels, who have fought six wars with Saleh's regime since 1994, have also boycotted the poll, though they pledged to allow people to vote.
"The polling stations are open and working normally ... we are boycotting, we are not preventing" people from voting, Mohammed Abdul Salam, a spokesman for the Houthi rebels, told AFP.
Mohammed Yahya, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, said 103,000 soldiers have been deployed to guard polling stations.
More than 12 million Yemenis are eligible to vote.
Source: Agence France Presse
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